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Local earthquake surprises community

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An earthquake felt in the Shippensburg area that occurred Tuesday around 7 p.m. was originally believed to have a 1.5 magnitude with an epicenter north of Roxbury Road, however, recent reports by the Lahmont-Doherty Earth Observatory show a 1.09 magnitude with an epicenter located near Rowe Run Road.

“It’s not exactly where we thought it was last night,” geography/earth science professor Sean Cornell said.

The depth of the earthquake was around five kilometers deep, which was much deeper than Cornell originally thought. At first, he did not think it was an earthquake.

“I thought it was like a cave collapsing or a sinkhole,” he said.

Energy was released in the earth’s crust, which caused an up and down motion on the surface, according to Cornell. The bumping motion caused the roof of buildings to move up and down, which may have caused loud crashing noises.

“That’s probably why we had some of the noises we had,” he said.

Cornell said the earthquake was likely a result of the earth settling and adjusting.